SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – When a program opens the season against the No. 4 ranked team in the country, the opponent could easily be intimidated. No. 23 Notre Dame College men's soccer came out ready to play when they stepped onto Mueller Field against No. 4 Lake Erie College, on Thursday. The Falcons scored two goals in the first half and held off the Storm for a 3-0 victory.

NDC almost scored the first goal of the game, less than three minutes into the contest, when they got behind the Lake Erie defense. However, the offside flag went up and the goal was taken away.

In the 16th minute, the Falcons were attacking again with junior Ailton Fagner Silva taking the first shot that ricocheted off the LEC goalkeeper, Zachary Dean. The ball settled in front of junior Mirai Sato, who was wide open and gave NDC the lead.

NDC continued to dominate the possession as they would take two more shots over the next five minutes. Junior Evans Armah entered the contest off the bench and within 40 seconds would score the second goal of the game, following a corner kick into the box.

"Ailton [Silva] and Evans [Armah] are two great individuals to work with," said head coach Carl Nolan. "Ailton contributes in lots of different ways and Evans, we worked with him previously for two years and we knew exactly what we were getting when he came back."

Lake Erie took just three shot in the first half, to NDC's nine.

"The first half, I thought was excellent, the second half, we knew we'd have to weather it a little bit," Nolan said. 

The Storm did find a few opportunities in the second half, sending five shots on target. All of them were turned away by NDC goalkeeper Danilo Abayo Wilson. Wilson finished the contest with six saves in his first start with NDC.

Already credited with an assist in the match, Silva made his presence known in the second half when he found the back of the net. The Falcons' striker was one-on-one with the keeper and used a quick move to the left to sneak past and see an open goal, seven minutes into the half.

Between the 72nd minute and the 85th minute, LEC took four shots on goal but did not convert. The Falcons, who had 11 shutouts last year, have not allowed a goal in the past two season openers.

"We managed the game really well and I'm really proud of them," Nolan mentioned. "[Lake Erie] is a good team, they're well coached and they'll be good this season."

Junior David Kolar started on the defensive side, after working back from an injury last year.

"We knew what we needed to do," he said. "Working for each other, we fought for each other and we scored two goals in the first half. Then the third goal to start the second half, we just kept going at them. I'm proud of the boys."

The Falcons will travel to Columbus to battle Ohio Dominican University, on Sept. 3. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.